Tag: David Hanson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department spent on training prison officers to help prisoners with mental health issues in each of the last three years.

Andrew Selous

All prison officers receive training on mental health issues as part of their initial training course. The majority of mental health training is delivered locally and costs attributed to such training are not held centrally.

The national NOMS Learning and Development department have spent the following in the last three years (staff and sundry costs only) training prison officers to help prisoners with mental health issues:

	2013 £k	2014 £k	2015 £k
National Mental Health Training	24	77	84

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average hourly earnings of (a) female, (b) male, (c) full-time and (d) part-time employees of her Department were in each of the last five years.

Karen Bradley

The average hourly pay for Civil Servants in the Home Office by gender and part and full time workers, for each of the last five years is in Table 1.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average hourly earnings of (a) female, (b) male, (c) full-time and (d) part-time employees of his Department were in each of the last five years.

Mark Lancaster

The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-03-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to review the definition of stillbirth since January 2014; and whether he has had discussions with his ministerial colleagues on changing the procedure on the registration of stillbirths to allow for the registration of deaths before 24 weeks.

Ben Gummer

The Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, as amended, provides for the registration of babies born without signs of life after 24 weeks’ gestation, which is the legal age of viability. Parents of babies who are stillborn after 24 weeks’ gestation receive a medical certificate certifying the stillbirth and, upon registration, can register the baby’s name and receive a certificate of registration of stillbirth.

Parliament supported a change to the stillbirth definition from “after 28 weeks” to “after 24 weeks” in 1992, following a clear consensus from the medical profession at that time that the age at which a foetus should be considered viable should be changed from 28 to 24 weeks. Medical opinion does not currently support reducing the age of viability below 24 weeks of gestation. Therefore, there are no plans to amend the stillbirth definition.

We are aware that some parents find it very distressing that they may not register the birth of a baby born before 24 weeks. However, it is important to recognise there would also be parents distressed at the possibility of having to do so. When a baby is born without signs of life before 24 weeks’ gestation, hospitals may issue a local certificate to commemorate the baby’s birth.

In November 2015, the Government announced a national ambition to halve by 2030 the rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries occurring during or soon after birth. The announcement also committed to publishing an annual report to update the public, health professionals, providers and commissioners on the progress we are making towards achieving the ambition.

To support the system in achieving this ambition we also announced:

― A £2.24 million capital fund for equipment to improve safety.

― Over £1 million to roll out training programmes to make sure staff have the skills and confidence they need to deliver world-leading safe care.

― £500,000 to develop a new system that can be used consistently across the National Health Service to enable staff to review and learn from every stillbirth and neonatal death.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many arrest warrants were issued for defendants who failed to attend court in each year since 2010.

Sir Oliver Heald

The number of arrest warrants issued for defendants who failed to attend court in England and Wales for the period 2010 to 2014, the latest data available, can be viewed in the table below.

Number of Failure to Appear (FTA) Warrants received ⁽¹⁾ in England and Wales, 2010- 2014.

Year	Total warrants issued
2010	93,473
2011	88,788
2012 (2)	72,819
2013	70,225
2014 (3)	70,016

(1) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from live systems used by police forces principally for operational reasons. As such, they are subject to change over time. For these reasons, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

(2) West Midlands constabulary are unable to supply any FTA warrant data from 1 April 2012.

(3) Lincolnshire Police were unable to supply any data for Q4 of 2014 because of technical issues related to the introduction of a new warrant management system. Data presented are for the first three quarters of 2014 only.

Notes: These data are reported to the Ministry of Justice by police forces. As such, they are not directly comparable with other data presented in the Criminal Statistics bulletin, which are returned directly from administrative data systems used by magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many deaths there have been as a result of faulty heart pacemakers in each year since 2010.

George Freeman

Clinicians are encouraged and manufacturers are mandated to report deaths and other incidents to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) if they suspect a device fault.

The numbers of United Kingdom deaths reported annually since 2010 to the MHRA involving patients implanted with approved pacemakers, are as follows:

Year	Deaths reported involving pacemaker patients
2015 – present	1
2014	8
2013	3
2012	3
2011	1
2010	4

According to registry data from 2014, over 35,000 pacemakers are implanted annually in the UK. Therefore the number of reported patient deaths listed above which could have potentially related to pacemaker failure represents no more than 0.01% of this population.

Analysis of MHRA investigation conclusions revealed that none of the above deaths resulted from a faulty pacemaker.

As the UK regulatory authority, the MHRA is responsible for monitoring the safety of medical devices once they have been approved for market. Although the majority of pacemakers are well functioning, the MHRA actively monitor the performance of implants using a variety of methods.

One key element involves the investigation of device-related adverse incidents, where manufacturers’ mandatory reports are supplemented by voluntary reports from clinicians and members of the public using the yellow card system.

The MHRA challenges manufacturers if it is believed that the proposed post-investigation action is inadequate to protect public health.

Every new incident, including those involving pacemakers, is assessed and assigned to an appropriate type of investigation according to its severity and the likelihood of obtaining further information on the cause of the event. All reports, even those unsuitable for further investigation, are fully recorded and subject to periodic trend analysis by the MHRA to look for signals suggesting any possible device-related problems.

In addition to scrutinizing manufacturers’ device data provided in incident investigations, and their published product performance reports, the MHRA also monitors relevant published research and articles on potential safety concerns as part of its surveillance of the medical device market. If evidence emerges that affects the safety of UK pacemaker patients, the Agency issues advice to the health service and takes any necessary regulatory action.

Furthermore the Agency actively engages with the clinicians and professional bodies to gauge their opinion on early indications for failure and problems encountered with device usage.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many applications from Normandy veterans for the award of the Legion d’Honneur have been made to his Department since 6 June 2014; how many such applications have been approved for forwarding to the French government; and how many of those applications have resulted in receipt of a medal by veterans.

Mark Lancaster

Ministry of Defence (MOD) officials have received approximately 3,850 applications from Normandy veterans in the period 6 June 2014 to date; about 3,300 had been sent to the French authorities by April this year. The French system was overwhelmed by these and other applications from Allied nations, which have far exceeded expectations. We jointly developed a new administrative process with the French whereby, since July 2015, 100 cases per week have been re-submitted to the French authorities.

The MOD is not routinely informed when an individual veteran is awarded the Legion d’Honneur as this is a matter for the French authorities. MOD officials understand that around 150 awards had been made by the beginning of July and that, subsequently, approximately 950 additional awards have been approved; of these we believe that about 600 may have been sent out. I am confident that this number will increase significantly over the coming weeks and months.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2015-10-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment (a) his Department and (b) the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency have made of (i) the rate of reported faults in heart pacemakers and (ii) research from UK and non-UK sources on heart pacemakers since 2010.

George Freeman

Clinicians are encouraged and manufacturers are mandated to report deaths and other incidents to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) if they suspect a device fault.

The numbers of United Kingdom deaths reported annually since 2010 to the MHRA involving patients implanted with approved pacemakers, are as follows:

Year	Deaths reported involving pacemaker patients
2015 – present	1
2014	8
2013	3
2012	3
2011	1
2010	4

According to registry data from 2014, over 35,000 pacemakers are implanted annually in the UK. Therefore the number of reported patient deaths listed above which could have potentially related to pacemaker failure represents no more than 0.01% of this population.

Analysis of MHRA investigation conclusions revealed that none of the above deaths resulted from a faulty pacemaker.

As the UK regulatory authority, the MHRA is responsible for monitoring the safety of medical devices once they have been approved for market. Although the majority of pacemakers are well functioning, the MHRA actively monitor the performance of implants using a variety of methods.

One key element involves the investigation of device-related adverse incidents, where manufacturers’ mandatory reports are supplemented by voluntary reports from clinicians and members of the public using the yellow card system.

The MHRA challenges manufacturers if it is believed that the proposed post-investigation action is inadequate to protect public health.

Every new incident, including those involving pacemakers, is assessed and assigned to an appropriate type of investigation according to its severity and the likelihood of obtaining further information on the cause of the event. All reports, even those unsuitable for further investigation, are fully recorded and subject to periodic trend analysis by the MHRA to look for signals suggesting any possible device-related problems.

In addition to scrutinizing manufacturers’ device data provided in incident investigations, and their published product performance reports, the MHRA also monitors relevant published research and articles on potential safety concerns as part of its surveillance of the medical device market. If evidence emerges that affects the safety of UK pacemaker patients, the Agency issues advice to the health service and takes any necessary regulatory action.

Furthermore the Agency actively engages with the clinicians and professional bodies to gauge their opinion on early indications for failure and problems encountered with device usage.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the statement of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 206, on student visas, what due diligence tests her Department undertook on the Educational Testing Service prior to awarding the company a contract for delivering language tests for visa applications.

James Brokenshire

The licence with Secure English Language Testing providers is clear that
providers must put measures in place to combat abuse and any concerns regarding
fraud or abuse should be reported to the Home Office. All third-party service
providers, whether they are employers, education establishments or test
providers, must take their obligations seriously or face the removal of their
licence to work with us.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2014-06-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the statement of 24 June 2014, Official Report, column 206, on student visas, whether she is seeking financial compensation from the Educational Testing Service.

James Brokenshire

Investigations are on-going and all potential remedies are being pursued.